"The River Nile"

The Nile River

For centuries, the Nile River was considered the world's longest river. It is 6,853 kilometres long, making it the longest river in Africa. It flows through 10 countries: Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia.

It flows into the south-eastern Mediterranean Sea, forming the great Nile Delta; the cities of Cairo and Alexandria are located on the delta.

The source of the Nile is in Burundi, and the river has two major tributaries: the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The first one flows through the African Great Lakes, has its most distant source in Rwanda, and flows northward through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda, South Sudan and Sudan. The Blue Nile originates at Lake Tana, in Ethiopia, and then flows through south-east Sudan. 

The northern portion of the Nile flows almost entirely through the desert, through Sudan and Egypt, an area where civilizations have depended on the river for millennia.

The Nile river basin spans 3.25 million square kilometres, approximately 10% of the surface area of Africa.